Data Centres Warned Over Olympics Impact

Data centre operators are being advised to prepare thoroughly for the six-week Olympic period, with power consumption set to rocket across the capital.

The warning comes from Mike Elms of Uninterruptible Power Supplies Ltd, who has also warned of the impact of unexpected disruptions once the Games kick off on the 27th of July.

"It's virtually impossible to predict the true impact the Olympics will have on power consumption with any degree of certainty, so with that in mind, it is imperative that those responsible for maintaining the most critical facilities have adequate safeguards in place", said Elms.

"Most data centres are likely to have multiple power sources entering the facility, known as being 'duel-corded'. As an owner or operator, you could be forgiven for believing that this would be all the protection you require but it doesn't take in to account the possibility of a catastrophic event, such as an act of terrorism, or even human error, which accounts for around 75 per cent of data centre downtime", he added.

Emphasising the precautions that should be taken, Elms continued, "It may sound alarmist but all the potential disruptions being discussed are possible so with this increased level of risk, it is vital that data centre operators spend some time assessing their system and formulating a plan to deal with any eventuality. The more prepared an operation is, the better an entire network environment can handle downtime or an outage."